Court limits ability to refuse a proposal based on “personal grievance” exemption… The Court gave some considerations on the shareholders fundamental right to call meetings, on how to differentiate between “personal grievances” that are not properly matters for a shareholder meeting, and the business and affairs of the company, which are proper matters.

The current CEO and one former CEO of Toshiba Corp. resigned this week in connection with the accounting scandal the company has been embroiled in since May. Senior executives are alleged to have pressured subordinates to meet unachievable financial targets, leading the company to overstate its earnings by more than USD $1.2-billion between 2008 and 2014.

One of the advantages of being part of the commonwealth is that we share commonalities in methods of taxation and governance with a variety of different countries. So when one of these countries experiments with a different way of doing things we should examine the attempt for lessons which can be learned here. So it is with great interest that we note a recent attempt by India to mandate gifts back to the community in the name of corporate social responsibility.

The decision to float your company on the stock market is an important one, possibly the most important one your business will ever have to face, and one that most successful privately-owned companies will need to consider at some stage. Five years after start-up is a common time for companies to start considering floatation, once any teething troubles are ironed out and more capital is required to expand the business.

Hiring even the lowest-level employee can be tricky, and hiring the wrong person is bound to cause trouble. So imagine the potential problems that a board of directors must avoid when hiring a new chief executive officer. What does the company want from a CEO? Does the candidate have the right skills, connections and personality to fit the job and the company? Does the applicant’s education meet the needs of the company?